Faun Fables

Rabbit Rabbit Radio is the song-a-month art-pop duo of Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi, both formerly of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Founded in February 2012, the project releases a new song to Bandcamp subscribers on the first day of every month, collecting them into yearly volume albums. Drawing on art song, folk song, industrial and improvised music and heart-wrenching balladry, their songs are described as raw, beautiful, sparse and rich. The core duo is expanded in performance and recording by Jeremy Flower and Jon Evans.

Nucleus Torn was a Swiss avant-folk/progressive-metal project founded in 1997 by multi-instrumentalist Fredy Schnyder, expanding into a chamber-metal ensemble with cello, violin, flute, and an array of folk instruments (hammered dulcimer, bouzouki, oud, bagpipes). Signed to Prophecy Productions from 2006, the band moved between folk-rock, 1970s progressive-rock homage, and extreme metal across a decade-plus discography, including a conceptual Nihil/Knell/Andromeda Awaiting trilogy. Active until 2015, the later lineup included Eluveitie's Anna Murphy.

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Frore 5 Four is an instrumental avant-garde/progressive metal project from Canada, releasing a run of Bandcamp albums built around unusually prominent accordion. Reviewers describe the sound as 'stomping accordion polka weirdness juxtaposed to neoclassical harmonies' — vocal-free, structurally unpredictable, tonally caught between creepy and jovial.

2 Foot Yard was a San Francisco/Oakland-based chamber-rock trio led by violinist-vocalist Carla Kihlstedt, alongside cellist-vocalist Marika Hughes and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily (drums, guitar). Functioning as a songwriting collective, the group blended chamber-music intimacy with rock and avant-pop, occupying "the fertile cracks between art song and pop song." It grew out of a solo album Kihlstedt released on Tzadik and released two records: the self-titled "2 Foot Yard" (Tzadik, 2003) and "Borrowed Arms" (self-released, 2008).

Sal y Mileto are Ecuador's most influential rock band, fusing progressive/alternative rock with hardcore, heavy metal, jazz and electronics into what they call 'Rock Libre Ecuatoriano.' Formed in 1994 in Latacunga, they've staged theatrical works blending poetry and contemporary dance and woven in Andean instrumentation like the traversa flute.

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Fabulae Dramatis is a Colombian-Belgian progressive/avant-garde metal act founded in 2011 in Antwerp, Belgium by singer Isabel Restrepo (Medellín, Colombia), Daniel Díaz, and a member known as Hamlet. The band weaves classical, acoustic and ethnic instrumentation — including sitar, harmonium and tambura — into a progressive-metal base, with Restrepo shifting between metal screams, operatic vocals, growls and South American vocal traditions. Their 2024 album "Violenta" and its single "Fábula Violenta" dramatize Restrepo's childhood during Medellín's drug-war years, complete with a self-directed concept music video.

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Lies of the Machine were a Budapest, Hungary avant-garde/symphonic steampunk metal band, active 2013-2020, built around a concept world ruled by a 'Machine Lord' and blending symphonic and folk metal with industrial, thrash and cabaret elements. Their sole full-length, 'Freakshow' (2016), pairs clean vocals from Dauda Judit with the varied melodic/aggressive vocals of Buza 'Don' Balázs, and the band staged elaborate steampunk/circus ('psychocircus') live shows.

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SNAILFORCE! is the genre-hopping instrumental project of Greg Eldridge and Adam Stacey, based in Portland, Oregon, blending metal, Balkan, prog and other styles into what the band calls a "musical slime project." Adam Stacey is also known for recording with Estradasphere, Atomic Ape, Secret Chiefs 3, High Castle Teleorkestra and Igorrr. The band's debut, the two-track EP "Greg and Adam's Wilderness Adventure," was released on May 24, 2024, mixed and mastered by Justin Phelps at The Hallowed Halls, with a rotating cast of guest players on strings, horns, shamisen and more.

Angizia is an Austrian avant-garde/gothic metal act founded in Vienna in 1994 by Michael Haas (Engelke), built around theatrical, operetta-influenced concept albums often likened to a traveling circus or puppet theater. Their catalog, including the 'Russian trilogy' of Das Tagebuch der Hanna Anikin, Das Schachbrett des Trommelbuben Zacharias and 39 Jahre für den Leierkastenmann, fuses Central European folk and classical operetta with gothic/black metal texture. They have released on Napalm Records and Black Rose Productions.

Gates of Paris is a French symphonic/opera power metal side-project of Kerion guitarist Remch Carrairou and Chris Barberi, releasing a self-titled concept album in 2018 — a theatrical cabaret-revue journey through Parisian history blending power metal with jazz, swing, flamenco, cancan, gypsy music, and classical citations from Bizet and Berlioz.